This application relates generally to electronic devices, and in particular to controlling operations of such devices by multiple entities, who may be different from a device user.
In a corporate environment, employees are often provided with access to office supplies and equipment to be used in performing job functions. Standard equipment typically includes at least a personal computer (PC), and may also include wireless mobile communication devices and other types of electronic devices. Although such equipment is intended primarily for business- or work-related purposes, users sometimes make personal use of office equipment. Employers are usually comfortable with some degree of personal use of such equipment, provided that the personal use does not interfere with normal job functions, does not incur additional costs, and conforms with company policies.
In these types of situations, a user of an electronic device is not the owner of the device, and the user and owner may have different perceptions of acceptable device uses. Acceptable use may be specified in company policies, for example, which employees are expected to follow, but a corporate device owner often has little if any control over how electronic devices are ultimately used. According to one known scheme for controlling operation of electronic devices, an owner loads a policy file onto a device to restrict the type of operations or software applications that may be executed by the device. However, this type of scheme is sometimes circumvented by a user by either deleting the owner policy file or replacing the owner policy file with a user policy file which may include fewer restrictions than the owner policy file. In addition, particularly in large organizations, more than one entity may have usage policies that they wish to manage and enforce. Known electronic device control schemes do not provide for multiple-level device control.
Therefore, there remains a need for a system and method of multiple-level control of electronic devices.